Residential Water Wells

Our intention with this page is to answer some questions that people may want to know about having a residential water well drilled.

The experience of having a well drilled is one that amazes almost every home owner. The varied reasons are:

The size of the drill rig

The support vehicles

The functioning well

The well location

When a well driller arrives to inspect the site to locate the well, there are only a few essential issues:

Location of a septic system

Plumbing accessibility and proximity

Equipment or machinery access

Topological obstacles such as trees, buildings, driveways, and roads

Seasonal access issues like mud and snow

Soil type

Sand

Gravel

Clay

Granite(rock type)

How we get ground water

Ground water is water below the land surface that fills the spaces between grains of sediment and rocks, or fills cracks and fractures in the rock. Saturated zones in sediment such as sand and gravel, and in fractured rock formations, that receive, store and transmit water to wells and springs are aquifers.

Some ground water occurs at the surface as springs, but in most cases, a water well is needed to reach the aquifer where ground water is found. Wells are made by drilling into the rock layers using drilling machines (rigs) to access water deep beneath the surface. In most cases electric pumps are used to raise the water to the surface.

The creation of a water well consists of several elements. After selecting the site to drill the well, the process includes drilling, development, testing and equipment installation.

Soil Conditions

A key issue that the well driller faces are the local soil conditions.

Gravel & Sand wells require casing the entire depth of the well and in certain cases a screen at the base of the well to permit water into the well pipe. The casing and screen prevent the well from filling in with sand and gravel.

Rock is resilient to this problem, but may need to have a plastic liner installed in order to protect the pump.

Casing must be installed (min. 20 feet) even if bedrock is at the surface.

Most people are used to merely turning a faucet to get a drink of water. The process by which water is found is not quite so easy. There is far more water travelling and flowing through bedrock and overburden than freely flows by in the thousands of rivers that etch the surface of our planet. Water bearing bedrock, sand, and gravel are technically named aquifers. The well drillers' job is to drill a hole into the earth's surface and extract an adequate supply of water from the aquifer.

Homeowners that arrive on the site, after the well has been drilled in their yard, see little evidence of the hard work and energy that has gone into drilling the well. The only thing left to see is a foot high pipe and a well cap surrounded by a little gravel and some rock cuttings. The pump installers are next on the scene to hook up your new submersible pump system. Now it's time to turn on the tap!

Water Well Rehabilitation: When water quality and quantity is lacking with your current well, give us a call because a new well may not be required. We can rehabilitate existing wells and bring them up to Ministry standards.